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HAYSTACK APPRECIATION THREADWhen I was a kid my dad had a Hesston Stakhand (at a time when literally everyone else in the world made round bales)
Round bales look like this:
The StakHand made haystacks that looked like bread loaves
The StakHand picked up the hay, sucked it up through the giant towering blower, then shot it into the big walled chamber.
Once the chamber was full, the roof came down and compressed the loaf. Once it was compacted, the roof raised back up, the back door slid up and the loaf slid out
To move these big ol' loafs, there was a second piece of machinery: the Stakfork
A trailer with a multi-chain conveyor belt, hydraulic tilt bed, and an badass hydraulic arm with a massive claw
I wish I could find video of the Stakfork in action because that thing kicked so much ass. Of course I never realized how cool this stuff was when I was around it every day but now I'm nostalgic for these goofy, impractical death machines.
The best thing about feeding with the Stakfork was dropping giant mech-handfuls of hay on the heads of the greedy, bully cows
The thing about these haystacks was, they were basically proprietary. You HAD to have a Stakfork or Stakmover to move them. With round bales, yes you need a tractor, but any number of implements could pick up a round bale. You could even set one on the back of a truck.
So, this meant that my dad HAD to keep the Stakfork running in order to feed. And I don't know how long they were manufactured but my impression is that it was immediately obsolete.
The chains on the conveyors would break - they were these weird flat chains and afaik they were unique to the Hesstons. So, at least one conveyor was always out of commission but that meant you could cannibalize the chain for spare links to fix the others.
Here's an eBay listing selling one of the chains as "steampunk diy shelving decorating"
120 bucks. I'd tell my dad but then I'd have to explain what steampunk is.
120 bucks. I'd tell my dad but then I'd have to explain what steampunk is.
The other parts that often broke were the tines on the fork itself. In my memory, ours never had the circular springs you see in this pic but I think that's because my dad had to replace them all with claws he'd welded together from scrap metal.
Here's a pic of my dad and I on his Case tractor. The hydraulic control levers for the Stakfork are behind his right shoulder. Once I was a bit older I'd ride behind him (the diesel tank acted as a bench) and operate the claw.
We would also put up hay in small bales of course. Here's my mom feeding from the back of the truck. This is how I learned to drive... at 3. They'd put the truck in low range, let it go, hop in back, and feed. I'd stand on the seat and steer.
Ok, back to the StakHand - my parents were kinda smug about their silly hay loaves because it made them different. I think they got a good deal on the equipment (used from somebody upgrading to round bales) and, like with most things on the farm, they made it work. For 20 years.
It's funny how in the 70's Hesston used a naming convention (StakHand, StakMover, StakFork) for their proprietary hay stack ecosystem that would fit right in with current tech products.
Dropped letters and smashed together words existed well before apps I guess.
Dropped letters and smashed together words existed well before apps I guess.
